28-Feb-2004

Well, I had to send my laptop in for service again; good thing it’s still under warranty until August of this year.

Why, you ask? Well, you know the little jack where the AC adapter plugs into the computer? Tonight, that jack somehow managed to come loose from the mainboard and to fall inside the computer. The hole for the plug is still there on the back of the machine, of course, but there’s nothing inside for the adapter to actually connect to.

I managed to get the necessary part of the computer open, but I couldn’t figure out how in the world to get the jack back into its proper place. Obviously this was an operation meant only for Trained Service Personnel, so my only resort is to send the machine off to Gateway to have it fixed.

But the really sad thing is, the adapter jack probably came loose when Gateway reattached the display panel last June; interestingly enough, I hadn’t noticed any difficulties with the adapter until after that incident. And it makes sense, since the hinge for the display is right there next to the power connector.

Incidentally, it seems as if my worst fears have been confirmed; Gateway appears to have followed the trend of outsourcing its technical support call centers to India some time after my support experience last year. Quite a shame, too, as today’s call to support was far more confused and generally unintelligible than the shining support experience I had with American tech support back in July. Suffice it to say, among other things, that heavily accented Indian support workers and auditory processing disorders don’t go together all too well; I had to ask the support rep to repeat herself more than a few times just to understand the line of questioning, and it was especially heinous trying to confirm my address to which the mailer was to be sent.